Author: Ekmekjian Janet

TURKEY MAY SUFFER A SERIOUS CRISIS IN ITS DOMESTIC AFFAIRS

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.06.20

The army and the authorities of the Turkish institutes of higher
education have rather grounded fears regarding the expansion of
Islam and the "destiny of Iran" fated for Turkey in the result of
this expansion.

Turkey may suffer a serious crisis in its domestic affairs, and this
may very probably happen already in the fall. The formal cause is
Turkey’s decision about the recognition of the anti-constitutional
law on hijab. The abolition of the legislative act was initiated and
insisted on by the opposition, in particular, by the DNP, accusing
Erdoghan of his intentions of changing the secular life into a
theocratic State.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The higher educational institutions and the army,
which is the stronghold of the Kemals in the country, share the same
fear with the DNP. The so called Kemalists are the 8 members (out of
11 members) of the Constitutional Court, which cause serious problems
for the leading Justice and Development Party and for the President and
the Prime-Minister of the country. Soon the Constitutional Court will
start the consideration of the suit of the General Public Prosecutor
on the ban over AKR, which will indeed lead the country to a serious
political crisis. According to Erdoghan, the decision made by the
Constitutional Court is "lame". "The Court must find out the reasons
of making such a decision, as well as the motives which led to the
revision of amendments of the Constitution of the country," said
Erdoghan in the parliament. The most interesting thing in Erdoghan’s
speech is that the very Constitution does not allow the Islamists
to be in power. On the other hand it must be mentioned that the
overwhelming majority of the population of the country practices
Islam and it is the majority that voted for the going back to the
values of the Ottoman Empire.

The army and the authorities of the Turkish institutes of higher
education have rather grounded fears regarding the expansion of Islam
and the "destiny of Iran" fated for Turkey in the result of this
expansion. More than 70 years, Turkey has tried to integrate into the
secular form of the government, but the dominance of the Islamists has
never been as strong and threatening as it is now. Let’s not forget
that the current president of the country Abdullah Gul was elected with
the third attempt and without the Constitutional majority of the AKR
in the parliament, nobody knows when what lead the history would take.

Basically, AKR may begin a special parliamentary election and most
probably will be able to win the election. Then one may say with more
certainty that Erdoghan has totally changed Turkey to Islam and has
started the construction of the new Ottoman Empire.

Most likely this is the only aim of the Islamists.

Yet, there is one very important aspect, which must not be
ignored. The Turkish army, according to Ataturk, is the guarantor of
the Constitution and it will carry on up to the end. Regardless all
the reforms and strivings to integrate into the EU, Ankara’s domestic
policy is still defined by the Turkish Joint Staff. The Joint Staff is
the one to decide what to do and what relations to have with Armenia
and other countries of the South Caucasus.

After all, the Joint Staff is going to decide whether Turkey is
integrated into the European Union or not.

With the Islamists, the viewpoints of the military staggered, and
now with the help of the Constitutional Court they want to turn the
situation to their favor.

It has worked out so far… After all, there is the tested mechanism
of the military overturn and Erdoghan knows the scenario of the
development of the events better than anyone else; he has already
been in prison for his viewpoints.

As for Armenia, it makes no different Armenia, since no government
of Turkey, be it secular or Islamic, will ever have enough courage
to recognize the history and start a dialogue. Nobody knows when
the Turkish society will be ready for it. It should be repeated
that the thing is not in the "brotherly" Azerbaijan or in the
Nagorno-Karabakh. The thing is in the recognition of the borders and
the Armenian Genocide.

But neither of these issues is acceptable by Ankara.

All that Armenian has to do now is to wait and see what
happens. Meanwhile one should not forget the argument that Armenia
limits the complete influence of Turkey on the countries of South
Caucasus.

AAA AGAIN CALLS ON BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO ACKNOWLEDGE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.06.2008 14:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On the heels of President George W. Bush’s
announcement of Marie L. Yovanovitch and James F. Jeffrey to serve
as Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States
of America to the Republics of Armenia and Turkey, respectively, the
Armenian Assembly of America calls attention to a U.S. filing with the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning the United Nations
Genocide Convention squarely acknowledging the Armenian Genocide as
a crime.

As PanARMENIAN.Net came to know from the AAA, the document reads
in part:

"The Genocide Convention resulted from the inhuman and barbarous
practices which prevailed in certain countries prior to and
during World War II, when entire religious, racial and national
minority groups were threatened with and subjected to deliberate
extermination. The practice of genocide has occurred throughout human
history. The Roman persecution of the Christians, the Turkish massacres
of Armenians, the extermination of millions of Jews and Poles by the
Nazis are outstanding examples of the crime of genocide."

Moreover, this 1951 document recently discussed by leading genocide
legal authority Professor William A. Schabas of The Irish Centre of
Human Rights also reads:

"This was the background when the General Assembly of the United
Nations considered the problem of genocide.

Not once, but twice, that body declared unanimously that the practice
of genocide is criminal under international law and that States ought
to take steps to prevent and punish genocide."

"Professor Schabas has reminded us again of the historic American
record of affirmation," said Assembly Executive Director Bryan
Ardouny. "Now the Bush Administration has an opportunity to utilize the
confirmation process to ensure that Turkey’s ongoing denial campaign
is squarely confronted."

"Furthermore and in particular," Ardouny added, "the U.S. Ambassador
to Turkey has a unique opportunity to follow in the tradition of
Ambassador Henry Morgenthau to ensure that universal principles
of human rights are adhered to, and that minorities in Turkey are
protected not persecuted."

Yovanovitch, a career member of the Foreign Service, currently serves
as Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic.

Prior to this, she served as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for
Political Affairs at the Department of State. Earlier in her career,
she served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Kiev. Yovanovitch received
her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and her master’s
degree from the National War College.

Jeffrey, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service,
currently serves as Assistant to the President and Deputy National
Security Advisor at the White House. Prior to this, he served as
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern
Affairs. Earlier in his career, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission
in Baghdad, United States Ambassador to Albania, and three other
assignments in Turkey. Ambassador Jeffrey received his bachelor’s
degree from Northeastern University and his master’s degree from
Boston University.

The Assembly anticipates a vigorous confirmation process. Last
Ambassador to Armenia John Evans was forced out due to his public
acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide.

SEYRAN OHANYAN: NO ONE WANTS TO RETURN TO WAR

armradio.am
09.06.2008 15:56

There are 26 frontier settlements in Armenia, which are situated
in the zone of possible attack from the rival: these settlements
need the special attention of the authorities. RA Defense Minister
Seyran Ohanyan told a press conference today that 21 of the frontier
settlements are located in Tavoush marz, 5 – in Vayots Dzor.

"Azerbaijan has more frontier settlements, but we refrain from
shooting in their direction. The four Armenian young people crossed
the Azeri border from Khachik village in Vayots Dzor. The statement
of the Azerbaijani side about the "diversion group" is nonsense. It’s
the same if we present the same accusation against the Azeri soldier
that crossed the border. I met with the head of the delegation of the
International Committee of the Red Cross in Armenia and expressed our
concern. I think our citizens must not worry, the exchange will take
place," Seyran Ohanyan said.

Turning to the belligerent statements of the Azerbaijani President,
the Minister noted that "Armenia stands for the peaceful resolution
of the issue, no one wants to return to war, neither does the people
of Azerbaijan."

The Moscow Times » Issue 3917
)

(http://www .moscowtimes.ru/articles/detail.php?ID=3D368037&am p;print=3DY)
City By The Black Sea.
Saturday, June 07, 2008

By John Wendle

Amid a crowd of tourists, a mother rolled a baby stroller up to the top step
of the Potemkin Steps in Odessa, seemingly unaware of the horror inspired by
a similar scene in Sergei Eisenstein’s film "The Battleship Potemkin."

The mother was not shot by tsarist troops, nor did the baby’s carriage roll
down the 142-meter staircase to Odessa’s port — but if it had it had, it
would have ended up in a car dealership.

Odessa has changed a lot since the time of Eisenstein, and even then it was
no longer the city where writer Isaac Babel grew up. Writing about his
hometown in "Lyuba Kozak," a story from his collection "Odessa Stories," Babel
described a place where "the sun hung from the sky like the pink tongue ofa
thirsty dog, the gigantic sea rolled on to Peresyp, and the masts of far-off
ships rocked on the emerald water of Odessa Bay."

Today, the stairs may end in rows of shiny cars and the spiky masts cutting
the sky have been replaced by the red and yellow necks of heavy-duty cargo
cranes, but no matter how much the city changes, it will always retain the
character of a port.

Odessa sits on a curved bay on the northern shore of the Black Sea. The
sheltered stretch of water attracted early settlers — the Greeks built a city
here in their drive to turn the hinterlands of the Black Sea into a Hellenic
breadbasket.

Over the centuries, everyone from the princes of Kievan Rus to the khans of
the Golden Horde and the sultans of the Ottoman Empire controlled the city.
It was known as Khadjibey until the late 1790s, when Russian forces won it
from the Ottomans in the treaty that ended the Russo-Turkish War.

The city’s thriving port boosted Odessa’s business sector as well as its
cultural diversity. The Albanian, Armenian, Bulgarian, German, Greek, French,
Italian, Jewish, Russian, Romanian and Ukrainian traders and sailors who came
through the port profoundly shaped the city — from the Italian baroque facade
of the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater to the Jewish Moldovanka quarter
where Babel grew up.

Another scene out of Babel’s "Odessa Stories" has a British and Malaysian
sailor visiting Lyuba Kozak to trade contraband "cigars, fine [Japanese] silks,
cocaine and filing tools, loose tobacco from the state of Virginia and red
wine that had been purchased on the island of Chios."

Scenes such as this give Odessa its romantic and exotic allure.

Unfortunately, the attractive beach area south of the city — accessible by
the No. 5 tram — is now cut into bite-sized chunks by crumbling concrete
walls built during the Soviet era for the purpose of dividing one sanatorium
from another. But the area is worth a look, if only to explore a post-Soviet
wonderland of decaying resorts and rusty cable-car towers and snap a few bleak
pictures of these areas of rusting absurdity to send back home. In all
fairness, though, the area looks like it might be packed in summer with fun discos,
kebab stands and plenty of places to have a picnic.

The main area of the city consists of block after square block of shabby but
historic two- and three-story houses, some hiding interesting courtyards and
all featuring on the first floor the blur of small shops found in any former
Soviet city: shoe stores, appliance shops, tiny cafes, internet clubs and
pharmacies, monotonous in their variety.

This area is most attractive at dusk, when the soft light drifts down onto
the tree-lined streets. It is the ideal time to start a walk.

Head north on Alexandrovsky Prospekt through a boulevard of dense trees. A
left turn at the end of the Prospekt leads to the park around the Cathedral of
the Transfiguration of the Savior, built in an eclectic classical style
between 1795 and 1809. Here, crowds of men have traded the mostly quiet game of
chess for raucous games of checkers and backgammon. Along one sidewalk, a
small daily craft market offers the opportunity to purchase Odessan and Soviet
souvenirs.

Deribasovskaya Ulitsa begins at the northeast corner of the park. This calm
pedestrian street is named after Major General Jose de Ribas, a Spaniard in
the Russian imperial army who helped capture the town from the Ottomans inthe
Russo-Turkish War.

Sadly lacking in outdoor cafes, the street is nonetheless worth the stroll
— both for the people watching opportunities it affords in the pretty,
well-maintained Gorodskoi Sad and because it is bisected by YekaterinskayaUlitsa.

This street features a montage of a trendy but very enjoyable sidewalk cafes
and restaurants, ranging from sports pubs and French bistros to pizzerias
and tourist traps.

Halfway down Yekaterinskaya Ulitsa is the newly restored Opera and Ballet
Theater. Locals say that the inside is even more beautiful than the ornately
carved, statue-bedecked exterior.

Yekaterinskaya Ulitsa ends at Yekaterinskaya Ploshchad, a roundabout
featuring a statue of Catherine the Great, pointing toward the sea. She led Russia’s
drive to the Black Sea, and the city was rechristened as Russian territory
two years before her death.

The right fork at the roundabout leads to the top of the Potemkin Steps. At
night, the staircase offers a light-dotted nightscape of the harbor — a much
more romantic way to see it than during the day when the smoke-shrouded
steel bones of the port are exposed.

UNITED KINGDOM SENDS REPLY MESSAGE TO AZERBAIJAN ON EXCAVATION OF AZIKH CAVE IN OCCUPIED TERRITORIES OF AZERBAIJAN

Azeri Press Agency
June 5 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku. Ulkar Gasimov-APA. "Great Britain is unaware of excavation
of Azikh cave by British and Spanish archeologists in the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan", UK Minister for Culture, Creative
Industries and Tourism Margaret Hodge’s letter says.

Azerbaijani Culture and Tourism Ministry told APA that the letter
approved occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenians and officially
stated unawareness of excavation of Azikh cave by British and
Spanish archeologists in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan
officially. The UK Minister’s letter covered that citizens had been
provided information about travel to Azerbaijan, including occupied
territories.

"The British should take it into account before planning to travel",
the letter says.

Materials on excavation of Azikh cave belonging to paleolith were
allocated in internet in March, 2008. Azerbaijani Culture and Tourism
Ministry sent a letter to UK Culture, Creative Industry and Tourism
Ministry and Spanish Culture Ministry on it on March 17, 2008.The
appeals covered that Armenians had destroyed Azerbaijani historical
and cultural monuments of in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan
and expressed anxiety about involvement of Spanish and British
archeologists in vandalism of Armenians. Letters of protest stated
that excavation contradicted with 1954 Hague Convention on Protection
of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, 1992 European
Archaeological Heritage Convention, UNESCO World Heritage Convention
(1972) and demanded to stop excavation in eternal territories of
Azerbaijan and observation of articles of international conventions.

EU HOPES KARABAKH TALKS WILL ADVANCE AFTER MEETING BETWEEN ARMENIAN, AZERI PRESIDENTS

Interfax News Service
June 4 2008
Russia

The European Union is emphasizing the importance of the upcoming
meeting of Azeri President Ilkham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan in St. Petersburg.

This meeting is important because of the novelty of the format, EU
Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby told a
news conference on Tuesday. The EU hopes that the meeting will create
a basis for efficient talks, Semneby said, noting that the EU would
like to see advances at the meeting.

The EU could play a positive role in increasing the level of trust
between the parties, the diplomat said. Europe is concerned about the
absence of contacts between Armenia and Azerbaijan for quite a long
period of time, he said. The EU welcomed a visit of a delegation of
Azeri intellectuals to Nagorno-Karabakh, Semneby said, adding that
Europe hopes such visits will help establish contacts between the
two peoples.

Semneby also expressed readiness to visit Nagorno-Karabakh. The
principled consent of all parties is required for this, he said,
noting that such a visit would be useful.

ARMENIAN-INDIAN INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION TO MEET LATE THIS YEAR IN YEREVAN

ARKA
June 4, 2008

YEREVAN, June 4. /ARKA/. The next meeting of Armenian-Indian
inter-governmental commission is to be held in Yerevan this year,
Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said at a meeting with Indian
Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary to Armenia Rina Pandey.

The two stressed the importance of the commission’s activity from
the viewpoint of deepening and expanding bilateral contacts. The
premier said the meeting will give a new impetus to cooperation and
invited the Indian side to include in the meeting agenda any issue
they would like to discuss, as well as define their nominee for the
commission co-chairman.

Stressing that Armenia and India are linked with centuries-long
relations and good traditions, the two said these links should be
bolstered in new spheres of cooperation now.

The sides agreed that this could be achieved through further activation
of high-level mutual visits.

Sargsyan highly appreciated the two countries’ cooperation within
international organizations, and thanked India for supporting Armenia
in the United Nations Organization.

AZERI MFA SPOKESMAN: TALKS WILL BECOME SENSELESS IF ARMENIA DOES NOT CHANGE ITS POSITION

armradio.am
02.06.2008 17:38

Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Khazar
Ibrahim declared that "if Armenia does not change its position on the
settlement of the Karabakh issue, the negotiations will have no sense."

The Spokesman noted that "Azerbaijan continues negotiating with
Armenia on the Karabakh settlement, and the Prague process will
continue within the framework of the Prague Process, the Presidnets
of Armenia and Azerbaijan Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev will meet
in Saint Petersburg."

"We expect a concrete response from the Armenian side. We wish to
know whether Armenia really aspires to solve the conflict and is
ready to demonstrate will for that," Ibrahim told a press conference
in Baku today.

European investment bank ready to start large-scale investment projects
in Armenia

YEREVAN, May 29. /ARKA/. The European Investment Bank is ready to start
large-scale investment projects in Armenia. This statement was made at
the meeting of Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosian with
the Vice-President of the European Investment Bank Eva Schreiber, the
Press Service of Armenian Foreign Ministry reported.

Schreiber introduced the first steps taken in the cooperation between
Armenia and the Bank after the signing of the agreement between the
Bank and Armenian Ministry of Finance.

Schreiber expressed hope that soon implementation of large-scale
investment projects will be possible in both public and private sectors
of Armenian economy. Among the priority fields mentioned were
transport, energy and ecology where large loans can be extended with
assistance of the Bank’s technical examination service.

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister, in his turn, assured that Armenia is
interested in successful implementation of joint projects and stressed
importance to the Bank’s activities in the country.

European Investment Bank is an EU body founded in 1959 for support to
development, integration and cooperation through investment loans
extended at equal interest to ensure balanced loan management in terms
of debt repayment. -0–

Resignation of three ministers from ARF Dashnaktsutyun means nothing
extraordinary: Adviser to President of Armenia

2008-05-30 14:43:00

ArmInfo. Resignation of Minister of Education and Science Levon
Mkrttchyan, Minister of Agriculture David Lokuyan and Minister of Labor
and Social Affairs Aghvan Vardanyan means nothing extraordinary,
Adviser to President of Armenia Garnik Isagoulyan said when commenting
at the request of ArmInfo on the decision of the three ministers from
ARF Dashnaktsutyun to design at Tesaket Debate Club Friday.

He said ARFD neither withdraws from the ruling coalition nor refuses
from its ministerial portfolios. ‘Lokyan, Lazarian and Vardanyan are
elected to ARFD Bureau and they believe it difficult to combine the
above jobs. As a result, they decided to resign. Other members of ARFD
will replace them and nothing terrible has happened’, Garnik Isagoulyan
said.